You’re invited to our Annual General Meeting! 

The Board of Directors of Metro Arts invites you to the upcoming Annual General Meeting of Metro Arts Ltd.

Please note: only current financial Members are eligible to vote at the meeting but all are welcome to attend.

DATES

Mon 9 May

TIME

5:30pm

LOCATION

Studio 2
Metro Arts, 97 Boundary Street, West End.  

RSVP

Please RSVP to info@metroarts.com.au by 9am, Friday 6 May.

Metro Arts is delighted to announce the commencement of Linden Tierney as its new Head of Fundraising and Philanthropy.

Linden brings a wealth of partnership experience to the role which has been supported through funding secured from Perpetual’s IMPACT Philanthropy Application Program.

Metro Arts Board and its Giving Committee have embarked on a philanthropic journey to secure the ongoing viability of the organisation developing the future of Australian contemporary arts practice, now.

The move to custom built premises in West Village in 2020 allowed Metro Arts to secure a bold initiative, the Metro Arts Future Fund (MAFF), also proudly supported by the Queensland Community Foundation through their General Grant Program.

MAFF enables Metro Arts to give more financial support to more artists to invigorate Queensland’s cultural scene. The fund seeks ongoing donations for investments which in turn provides hundreds of artists a year with the capacity to develop new work now, and into the future.

“We welcome Linden Tierney’s expertise in building long-term connections between donors and the arts, and look forward to her contribution to the 42 years Metro Arts has been helping artists to create, experiment and present their work, and providing audiences with creative experiences that challenge and transform,” says Metro Arts Chair, Dr Fiona Hawthorne.

Linden returns to Brisbane after development and programming roles held at Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Conventions, Venues & Events and more recently Glasshouse Port Macquarie.

“Linden is tasked to work closely with Metro Arts’ Board and staff to bring the 2022-23 fundraising campaign to fruition and we look forward to her reconnecting with the Brisbane performing arts scene after a 20 year absence.” said Jo Thomas, Artistic Director and CEO. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Metro Arts Future Fund or Metro Arts program please contact info@metroarts.com.au

MAVA PATHFINDERS | ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION

*INFO SESSION DETAILS HAVE CHANGED*
Please note, given the changing Covid-19 advisements and restrictions, this event will now run as an online event. 

Find out more about the application process for the 2022 Metro Arts Visual Arts (MAVA) – MAVA Pathfinders program.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
2022 METRO ARTS VISUAL ARTS (MAVA) – MAVA PATHFINDERS

Metro Arts is thrilled to offer ‘MAVA Pathfinders’, a rare and well-supported opportunity for artists to explore new ways forward in their career.

Ensuring a strong local independent sector of artists, MAVA Pathfinders will support three Queensland, mid-career visual artists to explore new opportunities, and to purposefully harness their potential to build more sustainable careers.

Included in the Program:

A 12-month artist residency (May 2022 – May 2023) at the MAVA Substation which includes:

• 24/7 access to the secured MAVA Pathfinder studio;
• Access to the new and fully equipped workshop;
• Salary $50,700 per annum pro rata (0.6 FTE) + statutory super;
• Material budget of $5,000 (per artist);
• Support from the Metro Arts team and broader network that might include but not be limited to:
  • Curatorial
  • Marketing
  • Financial
  • Business development
  • Technical; and
  • Access to Metro Arts’ local, national, and international networks.

ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION:

Tuesday 25 January, 6:00 – 7:00pm

HOW DO I JOIN THE ONLINE SESSION?

On a computer or laptop: Join the session via the ‘JOIN SESSION’ button above OR paste the following link into your browser (we recommend Chrome): https://meet.google.com/rfk-jpap-dpf

GOT A QUESTION?

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATIONS :

Jenna Green (Producer – Special Initiatives) will be available at the following times for 15 minute individual consultations to discuss applications:

Thursday 27 January: 10am – 12pm AND 4pm – 6pm

Image: Sarah Poulgrain, 2021. Photo: Charlie Hillhouse.

KEY DATES:

Applications open:
Friday 17 December 2021, 9:00am AEST

Applications close:
Wednesday 23 February 2022, 11:59pm AEST

HOW TO APPLY: 

Application Guide: Download / view the application guide here.

Online Application Form: The link to the online application form can be found in the application guide. You can preview the online application form here. 

Image: Sarah Poulgrain, 2021. Photo: Charlie Hillhouse.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS EMERGING PRODUCER XCHANGE 2022

The Emerging Producer Xchange is a flagship mentorship program supported by The Ian Potter Foundation. Over 2021-2022, six emerging producers will be invited to participate in paid internships, embedded within nationally-recognised multidisciplinary arts organisations. The host organisations are Metro Arts in Queensland and The Mill in South Australia.

Under the mentorship of a lead producer in each state, the emerging producers will receive exclusive insights into the operation of two professional and prolific Australian arts organisations, and have unparalleled access to networking, skill-sharing and professional development opportunities. After successfully running the program during 2021, Metro Arts is now calling for two new emerging producers to work with the organisation in 2022.

Between January – October, the emerging producers will support the delivery of the host organisation’s annual artistic program, supporting artists in the creation, presentation, and touring of new work.

The emerging producers will also accompany lead producers to attend a number of major industry events, conferences and marketplaces throughout the year, and participate in a series of dedicated activities specific to the Emerging Producer Xchange.

The Emerging Producer Xchange is designed to address the ongoing shortfall of professional development opportunities for skilled producers particularly in the independent performance sector.

KEY DATES:

Applications open:
Thursday 21 October 9.00am / AEST

Applications close:
Monday 8 November 9.00am / AEST

HOW TO APPLY: 

Application Guide: Download / view the application guide here.

Online Application Form: The link to the online application form can be found in the application guide.

Image: Tangerine Hour by NDRNCE, 2021. Photo by Nick John Bleeker.

CALLUM MCGRATH

Callum McGrath is an artist and researcher currently based in Naarm/Melbourne. McGrath’s work applies experimental archival and historiographic approaches to reconceptualise methods of queer memorialisation. His research-led projects resist the hegemonic and institutional structures of archival repositories and instead work toward methods of queer remembrance where queer temporalities and futurity can take precedent.

Your practice disrupts typical engagement with the past and challenges the aesthetics of public memorialisation to make way for a speculative queer community. What is the significance of forming such a community and what interests you in particular about expressing these ideas through acts of remembrance?
Hmm.. big question… I am interested in the ways in which queerness can be used as a methodology to consider the challenges and complexities of representing, presenting, documenting, and archiving the past. I think each work I make deals with history in a way that is against the hegemonic systems that deal with and organise the past.  As much as my work is about remembering and acknowledging the past, I think the work is equal parts against history or opposed to its linear and temporal unfoldings. For me, the queerness of this methodology lies in its resistance to history as something that is linear and or a closed loop. I think by looking at queer history (which is just one example of the kind of marginalised past this methodology can be applied to) we can see the destructive and corrosive nature of the past.  History for me is negotiated through a complex web of comprises, truth, lies, mistakes ect. Take for instance the work at Metro, as much as this work is framed as a historiographic project, I think in many ways it’s intentionally failed. It refuses to give away details and compromises truth, instead, it is a fragmented cinematic failed picture of a violent past that continues to secrete/ leak into the future. 

What is particularly interesting to you about the case of Ross Warren?
The Ross Warren case has been of interest to me for quite some time, I have wanted to make a work about it for many years but never really known how. What is interesting for me is not the particular circumstances that happened which is of course awful but instead, him being a semi-media figure and that being something that we can cling to. Unlike many of the other queer people who were murdered, Ross’s image exists recorded on film. Particularly significant for me knowing I wanted to make a video work. That said, part of the reason in the video it included fragments from other incidences from a range of historical time periods is precisely because I didn’t want to just priorities the case of Ross’s. I think this is where I am attempting to negotiate to complexities of the past and utilise an experimental approach to re-telling a history? 

How do you hope people will engage with this work?
Well, I think there are two mains goals for this project, firstly I think it’s important for the public to become aware of this history and engage with it in a way that is on an emotional/ affective level. Something that I think public memorial spaces often lack. Secondly, I really want this work to generate conversations around histories problems; specifically the complexities of remembrance and memorialisation. Thinking through different and experimental approaches to telling the past that can do interesting and important things in regards to temporalities and a de-linear or even messy image of the past. I think the work pulls, stretches, and distorts time, in a way that doesn’t attend to hegemonic systems, and reproductive futurism; a methodology that is in many ways indebted to writing on queer temporalities.  

ARTIST EVENT

THE WEATHERMAN
By Callum McGrath

Tue 6 – Sat 24 Jul, 2021

CLOSING EVENT
4-6pm, Sat 24 Jul

WHERE

Gallery One, Metro Arts

GALLERY HOURS

Tue 6 – Fri 9 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Sat 10 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 11 Jul Closed
Mon 12 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Tue 13 Jul 7am – 4.30 pm
Wed 14 – Fri 16 Jul 7am – 9pm
Sat 17 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 18 Jul 5pm – 9pm
Mon 19 – Fri 23 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Sat 24 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 25 Jul Closed

FREE

DEBBIE TAYLOR-WORLEY

With an interest in art sparked in fourth grade, it wasn’t until the birth of her daughters that Debbie Taylor Worley started a journey to reconnect to her heritage, resulting in studying art as a mature age student. Her new exhibition Wun-ga-li Ngurrambaa Winanga-li honours her connection to Gamilaraay country.

What inspired you to become an artist?
I’ve had an interest in art ever wince the 4^th grade when my teacher, Mr Smith, put a pineapple on his desk and told us all to draw it. After seeing our results he said, “draw what you see, not what you think you see”. From that moment, along with the stash of art books dad had in the hallway cupboard, I was fascinated with creative processes.

In my mid 40’s, I finally had the opportunity to attend art college and was motivated and inspired by the artists that taught within the unit, such as Jennifer Herd, Vernin Ah Kee and Lauri Neilsen. I was introduced to new ways of seeing art and it gave what I was producing greater purpose.

How would you describe your art to someone unfamiliar to it?
It’s everchanging and multidisciplinary, working mainly with clay and textiles. However, common themes that run throughout my work are the dendroglyphs or tree carvings of the Gamilaraay nation and female empowerment.

Using the motifs of the tree carvings provides a link between contemporary practice and my cultural roots. The motifs go hand in hand with images and sculptures to draw attention to the divine feminine and our mother the earth.

I prefer to use materials that are as natural and connected to country as possible. For example, I forage bullrushes when the season is right for weaving fibres, and use ochre from country to colour canvases laid within the landscape.

Your art is influenced by “listening to country”, can you explain how this practice works?
The Gamilaraay word Winanga-li describes a process of listening, hearing, thinking, remembering. It involves sitting in a place and space of deep contemplation and hearing what nature is telling you. It is a way of connecting deeply on a spiritual level. Just as an artist may stare at a blank canvas for days before applying paint to it, I sit on Gamilaraay country and let it speak to me, translating the message intuitively onto the canvas.

What can you tell us about your exhibition at Metro Arts?
This body of work was made at various sites on Gamilaraay country, that are significant in regards to Gamilaraay spirituality and my childhood memories. A trip back to country was made possible by the Windmill trust Scholarship that was awarded to me in 2020. As a result of listening to country, each canvas has been produced beside an important body of water and covered with the surrounding earth, clays and ochres. It highlights the responsibility of Gamilaraay women to protect sacred waters. I believe my ancestors are guiding me on my journey of reconnection to culture and country.

Included in the exhibition is a video work by my young Nephew, Jackson, that documents portions of the journey and the art making process.

Wun-ga-li Ngurrambaa Winanga-li  | 6 – 24 July | Gallery One, Metro Arts
Find out more about the exhibition here.

ARTIST EVENT

WUN-GA-LI NGURRAMBAA WINANGA-LI
By Debbie Taylor-Worley

Tue 6 – Sat 24 Jul, 2021

ARTIST TALK
3pm, Sat 24 Jul

CLOSING EVENT
4-6pm, Sat 24 Jul

WHERE

Gallery One, Metro Arts

GALLERY HOURS

Tue 6 – Fri 9 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Sat 10 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 11 Jul Closed
Mon 12 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Tue 13 Jul 7am – 4.30 pm
Wed 14 – Fri 16 Jul 7am – 9pm
Sat 17 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 18 Jul 5pm – 9pm
Mon 19 – Fri 23 Jul 7am – 4.30pm
Sat 24 Jul 10am – 9pm
Sun 25 Jul Closed

FREE